


Waking Up To You

by MandolinDoodler



Series: Hiccup/Viggo AUs [7]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: M/M, Soulmate AU, Soulmates, body switching, vigcup
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:27:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27640702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MandolinDoodler/pseuds/MandolinDoodler
Summary: When Viggo woke up in his own body on his sixteenth birthday, he assumed he didn’t have a soulmate. He never thought his soulmate might not be born, yet. Now he's stuck in the scrawny one-legged body of a sixteen year old dragon rider while getting dragged around by a pair of twins that claim to be his soulmate's best friends.
Relationships: Viggo Grimborn/Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III
Series: Hiccup/Viggo AUs [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1855789
Comments: 15
Kudos: 102





	Waking Up To You

Viggo Grimborn doesn't have a soulmate. He knows this because unlike his brother and his father and his grandfather he woke up in his own body on his sixteenth birthday. He should have woken up in his soulmate's body.

If he had one.

But he doesn't.

It takes three days of hoping before he accepts that he will always wake where he fell asleep, that someone else's eyes won't look through his own, that there is no other half to his soul. And as he accepts these truths, he rejects Fate and the gods and whatever higher powers determine soulmates. Because why should he care if they've all decided he doesn't deserve to find the one person that will be able to intimately understand him and love him and stand by his side?

It's fine.

He's seen the other side of it, anyways. Oh yes, finding your other half is one of the deepest joys in life, but unexpectedly  _ losing _ that other half is said to be worse than losing a limb, that people would rather tear their own heart out of their chest with their bare hands than lose their soulmate. Only a bond can keep that pain away. And what good is that, really, when a bond leads to love and losing a loved one is said to be just as painful as a lost soulmate?

So he'll take the free pass. Viggo can go through his entire life and never have to travel halfway across the world in search of his mate. He'll never have to worry about getting that excruciating pain out of the blue and knowing that it means his other half is gone. And he'll never have to face the possibility of his soulmate loving another by the time he finds them.

Now, Viggo can decide exactly who he wants to be. He spends his days expanding his empire, ruthlessly removing all threats to his business and elevating the status of his tribe, seducing lovers into his bed knowing full well they have soulmates waiting for them back home and that he'll never be tied down by such a prospect. Maybe somewhere along the way he'll find someone worth keeping. He's more than capable of determining his own other half even if the universe says otherwise.

Except perhaps it didn't think otherwise. Perhaps it just needed time to find an equal match for someone like Viggo Grimborn.

Viggo wakes up and he isn't where he fell asleep. There's a ceiling above him with thick wooden beams stretching across the inside of a hut that isn't his own, a gaggle of terrible terrors sleeping across said beams. One perks up as it spots him as if sensing he isn't where he's supposed to be and it cocks its head to one side. He narrows his eyes at it. As he sits up in the hard bed, a strand of auburn hair falls into his face. Lifting a scrawny arm, Viggo brushes it away and feels the calluses on his hand skim over his forehead.

He pulls his hand back down to examine the rough spots on the palms and fingers. Whomever this person is, they're a worker. His eyes trace over the backs of his hands and up his arms and over his flat chest and down to where his legs and feet are covered by blankets and a thick fur.

Sorry,  _ foot _ . There's only one foot under there when Viggo pulls aside the warm layers piled on him. A missing limb which means there should be-

A contraption tumbles into his lap. At a glance Viggo can see where a stump would fit and where a spring mechanism is placed to help cushion the impact of taking a step. He would examine it more if not for the strange slimy substance coating the majority of the prosthetic's surface. A deep grumble brings his attention to the thing that brought the prosthetic over.

Somewhere in his mind Viggo came to the conclusion that maybe this person has a trained dog or terrible terror to help them. What he didn't expect is a pitch black dragon towering over him and staring him down with dilated eyes and a slobbering tongue.

"Gah!"

There are too many things to process as Viggo throws himself away from the dragon causing himself to fall off the opposite side of the bed. One: there's an unchained, uncaged  _ nightfury _ in the room. Two: he's missing a leg and his prosthetic fell off the side of the bed closer to the dragon so he has no way to escape. Three: why does he sound like he has a cold?

The dragon croons at him, eyebrows creased in concern and Viggo is perplexed by the sheer amount of emotion the beast can display.

"Toothless," a voice snaps from the floor below. "What did I tell you about today?" Viggo has never heard a viking scold a dragon nor has he ever seen a dragon react so much like a child being scolded. The nightfury gets a look of panic on its face before bolting into the rafters, startling the terrible terrors who scatter immediately. A solid mass of a man emerges at the top of the stairs, his glare trained on the dragon hiding out of his reach. Once he's sure the nightfury will stay up there, the man looks away and fully enters the room (which isn't so much of a room as it is a loft, Viggo absentmindedly notices).

"Sorry 'bout him - he's just as excited as everyone else for today." His eyes light up at the end, crinkling at the corners with the grin that spreads over his face. As he makes his way over to Viggo he snatches the prosthetic from the floor, flicking away the dragon spit and handing it over. "My name's Stoick. I'm Hiccup's father."

Hiccup. A runt's name. The Fates have determined that a runt is the other half of his soul.

"Viggo," he replies when Stoick pulls him up after his artificial leg is secured. His normal body is leaner than his usual company, so he's relatively used to the feeling of being hefted up so easily by Ryker, but the disparity between Hiccup and his father makes Viggo feel like nothing but a piece of parchment in Hiccup's body.

"Here ye are," Stoick hands him a fur vest, a boot following after, and Viggo is thankful for the layers, already loathing how bad this body is at retaining heat in these winter months. "Let's get some food in you and then you can tell me all about yerself."

They head to the Great Hall for breakfast and barely get in the door before all eyes are on Viggo, following him with excitement and curiosity. More than ever, Viggo wishes he could stand with his usual poise and authority. Unfortunately, he struggles with getting used to the prosthetic leg and the nightfury, Toothless, who joined them on their way out, has been supporting most of his weight through the short trip.

The strangeness of having a dragon by his side and seeing all the dragons in the Hall proves to be a good distraction from the stares and whispers of villagers. A group of teenagers watches them from a table by the central hearth - a set of blonde twins, a short burly boy, a taller wideset boy, and a blonde girl. It’s the last one that his gaze lingers on. She has that disappointed look of someone who didn’t wake in their crush’s body on their sixteenth birthday and Viggo has to wonder what her relationship is to his soulmate.

“You’ll get to meet them later today,” Stoick puts a hand on his shoulder to lead him to another table where sits a man missing an arm and a leg. There’s already two plates of food set out for them, a simple breakfast of bread and cheese to start their day. “Gobber, meet Viggo!”

Gobber stands and holds out his good hand for Viggo to grip, a toothy grin on his face and eyes bright. “Good ta meet ya!” Viggo offers a tight lipped smile. While he wants to give his attention to these two men that must be important in his soulmate’s life, the burst of gossip around them is distracting. His ears can’t help but try to tune into it and figure out what they think of him so far.

“Don’t mind them,” Gobber says. “First sixteen year old we’ve had in awhile, even longer since a dragon raid didn’t interrupt the occasion. And an outsider! Ooooh boy they’ll be gossipping for weeks after this.” It’s not uncommon in his own tribe to be soulmates with someone from another land, though it’s certainly more common for soulmates to be found within the tribe. A tribe as seemingly small as this - wait.

“Dragon raids?” Stoick and Gobber pause their eating to look at him, eyes widened. They share a look.

“You don’t get dragon raids where you’re from?” Stoick asks. “Er,  _ didn’t _ , I suppose. Most tribes around these parts reported their raids stopped almost a year ago.” Viggo shakes his head, eyes narrowed and casting about the room to all the dragons casually lingering about. He’s never heard of a tribe living so intertwined with dragons. Even the Defenders of the Wing don’t engage in relationships with dragons like these vikings seem to. And dragon raids? That’s territory he was told to stay far away from growing up, even more so when he became chief. Wild dragons can be managed, but dragons that go out of their way to attack villages are completely feral and have no place in markets. They’re not worth the trouble.

“We have dragons where I’m from, but the dragon raids never touched us.”

“How far away from Berk are you?” Berk. The barbaric archipelago. That’s a long ways away.

“Three or four weeks sailing, given good conditions.” Stoick looks more concerned at this news while Gobber is as cheerful as ever, not the slightest bit troubled.

“What’s that in dragon?” Gobber considers it, seemingly trying to do the conversion between time sailing to time flying. “Eh, I’m sure Hiccup can figure it out - he’s a smart lad like that and,” he stoops down to give Toothless a couple pats where he’s curled on the floor by their feet, “he has a nightfury. That distance will be easy to beat for the two of ‘em, don’t you worry.”

Something in his gut twists at that information. Viggo’s gone through this morning without really considering the situation he’s in: he has a soulmate. When he wakes in his own body, he’ll be expected to go and meet this soulmate of his or suffer the consequences of not forming a bond. But he didn’t ask for this and he doesn’t want to meet some scrawny unremarkable boy from some feral unremarkable land.

Stoick breaks his thoughts, “this is all a lot to take in, I’m sure. Why don’t you eat and we can tackle all those issues later. Today is supposed to be a happy day so -”

Viggo feels the presence of two people on either side of him, each having linked an arm with one of his. Looking up, he sees the blonde twins from earlier.

“Hey chief,” the male one starts, addressing Stoick. If his soulmate’s father is the chief, then that means - “we’re taking Hiccup’s soulmate, now.”

“Wha - no, you are not!”

“Actually,” it’s the female one that speaks this time. “We made a schedule and now it’s time for them to come with us.”

“That is not - “

“Ah, ah, ah,” they’ve switched again, “if you didn’t take the time to read to the schedule we sent you, then that’s on you, chief.”

“But it says right here,” the female one pulls out a sheet of parchment and holds it out to Stoick and Gobber. “That they’re ours from mid morning till noon.”

“At noon they’ll spend lunch with the dragon riders.”

“Then Snotlout gets them for one hour after that.”

“And Fishlegs gets them till mid-afternoon.”

“Mid-afternoon to dinner is split between us,” she gestures between herself and her brother.

“They dine with Astrid.”

“Then we all head to the Dragon Academy for a sleepover.”

Stoick’s face is red in frustration, one eye twitching at the twins’ antics and looking as if he’s barely holding back from yelling at the two. “So you’re telling me I only get to spend one hour with my own son’s soulmate?” There’s a challenge in the way he grinds that question out, but it’s lost to the two blondes still linked to Viggo’s arms (or maybe they’re just ignoring it).

“I see where your frustrations are coming from.” the female one says, “but it’s not our fault they woke up late and you squandered your time with them.”

“Maybe next time you’ll use your time more wisely,” the male one scolds. Viggo can’t believe Stoick is taking this attitude from two teenagers. He’s the  _ chief _ . If Viggo were in his position he would have strangled the miscreants for insubordination. Actually, he wouldn’t have to because Ryker would have gladly taken on that job.

Without waiting for a response, the twins use their linked arms to haul Viggo up and away from the table, ignoring the yells that follow them out of the Great Hall. The massive doors to the Hall swing shut only to be pushed back open by the rest of the teens Hiccup’s age and they follow the trio down the icy steps along with Toothless.

“I’m Tuffnut,” the one on his left says.

“And I’m Ruffnut,” says the one on his right.

“We’re Hiccup’s best friends!” They say together. Viggo suspected as much when he heard the layout of the schedule and the way more than half the day was allotted to just Ruffnut and Tuffnut.

“Actually,  _ I _ am Hiccup’s best friend,” the short burly boy shoves Tuffnut out of the way. “Snotlout Jorgenson.” He tries for a suave grin and Viggo has to wonder what the boy is after here.

“Uh, I’m pretty sure Hiccup would agree that Toothless is his best friend,” the wideset blonde boy intervenes. “I’m Fishlegs, by the way.”

Viggo nods in acknowledgement, glad to see at least one of his soulmate’s friends doesn’t seem to be obnoxiously rude or jealous. He looks to the last of the group, the blonde girl with an axe strapped to her back. “Astrid, I presume?” She gives him a curt nod.

“And you?”

“Viggo.”

“So where are you from?” Fishlegs asks.

“Far away.” Astrid gives him a suspicious glare. Good, one of them has some sense, Viggo thinks. The rest of the group aren’t deterred by his short answers to their questions as they walk through the village. They ask mundane things about what he likes to do and what his village is like and what he looks like and what his opinion is on whatever tripe the twins come up with. All the while, Viggo is more interested in observing Berk and its dragons.

The teens take turns supporting his walking, seamlessly switching out without having to communicate. With them helping him, his focus can wonder and the first thing that catches his attention is the wing mechanism on Toothless. He missed it previously since the dragon was by his side, but now the nightfury trots in front of them, greeting other dragons and glancing back occasionally to make sure Viggo’s alright.

“Does all of that work?” He gestures to Toothless. It could be there for cosmetic reasons - a comfort to the grounded dragon or perhaps it’s only capable of gliding short distances.

“Oh yeah! It’s completely functional and allows Toothless to fly just as well if not better than any dragon on Berk. Hiccup designed it himself after he found him in the woods a year ago.” Fishlegs is enthusiastic in explaining how Hiccup uses the pedals on either side of the saddle to adjust the position of the artificial tailfin. It’s clear the boy doesn’t fully understand all the pieces and how it all works together, but the gist is there and now Viggo is intrigued.

Maybe his soulmate isn’t as unremarkable as he thought.

“He made that prosthetic, too,” he points to the one attached to Viggo’s leg, “and all of Gobber’s prosthetic limbs that he uses in the forge and - oh! We should go to the forge!” Fishlegs grabs his arm and tears him away from the group and towards an open faced building near the town’s center. “He has a workroom in there with all his inventions and plans. There’s tons more in his room, too, like other variations of Toothless’ tailfin and his leg.”

He continues to ramble as they enter the forge. They head towards the back where Fishlegs moves aside a curtain to reveal a cramped room with a desk pushed up against one wall and shelves upon shelves of weapon models and prototypes. The walls that aren’t taken up by shelves are covered with drawings of dragons (mostly Toothless) and technical drawings for prosthetics, for machines to improve the village, for dragon-themed tools. Tucked beneath those are designs for weapons, the kind used to fight dragons and trap them and kill them.

It’s the kind of stuff that fills the walls of his own workshop back home, though there are far less dragons among his drawings and schematics.

“He made all of this? On his own?” Some of the models have signs of wear and tear,  _ years _ of it. They look like a child’s cherished toy that they kept to adulthood and the progression of quality in the designs - proof that he didn’t just build all of this, he was learning as he went and improving each time.

“Yup,” Fishlegs says proudly. “Gobber taught him blacksmithing skills, but everything else was on his own. There’s never been anyone else on Berk that had the knowledge or patience to help him.”

“‘Specially because he kept blowing everything up!” Ruffnut pipes in from the main part of the forge.

“Oooh the chaos,” Tuffnut says dreamily, leaning on a workbench and staring into the distance wistfully. “I miss those days.”

“You mean you miss waking up in the middle of the night to dragons raining fire down on us and stealing all our food?” Astrid asks, thwapping the twin upside the head as she walks by him.

“I mean, that was kinda cool, all the fire everywhere,” he turns to Viggo, excited, “they even encouraged us to go near it!”

“They made us carry buckets of water,” Ruffnut adds, “but we got to run towards the explosions!”

“Now, they don’t want us near anything that could explode.”

“Yeah, ‘cause you guys are muttonheads.” Snotlout has joined the conversation. The teens are quick to get lost in their own discussion, likely forgetting the significance of this day and that Viggo is present. That’s fine. Viggo isn’t here to make friends with these teenagers or give away all his secrets. He turns back to Hiccup’s workroom, preferring to immerse himself in something of meaning rather than their trivial banter.

Soon enough they’re interrupted by Stoick and Gobber entering the forge, the latter not wasting any time in kicking out the other teens. Stoick approaches Viggo where he studies the plans for a bola launcher.

“He took that out during the last dragon raid we had. Managed to shoot down a nightfury with it.” That catches Viggo’s attention and he looks up at the other chief, then to the nightfury sneaking his way into the forge behind Gobber’s back. “Aye, that’s the one.” Stoick smiles when Toothless sticks his head into the workroom, resting his large hand on the dragon’s scales. “None of us believed him, of course, but probably for the best. We wouldn’t be here now if Hiccup hadn’t found Toothless by himself.”

Left alone to hunt a nightfury. Left alone to teach himself how to build and think. Viggo feels a tightness in his chest, one he hasn’t felt since the day he didn’t wake up in his soulmate’s body.

“Ah, he can tell you about that himself.” Stoick scans the room, eyes roaming over the contraptions scattered about and he gets an unsure crease in his brow. “What do you think… of all of this?” He vaguely waves his hand around the small space they stand in.

“This is,” Viggo considers his answer. Normally, he might try to play it close to the vest, tamp down the bit of admiration that has surfaced over the intelligence of his soulmate. He remembers the words of Hiccup’s friends, how they talk about the boy. There are signs everywhere that Hiccup was discouraged from thinking and building. It’s such a contrast to Viggo’s own home where he had his grandfather to guide him and the tribe was open minded about his innovations.

“I’m impressed,” he answers honestly. “Sixteen years old and he taught himself how to make all of this, even managed to get a dragon back into the sky. It’s not every day you meet someone like that.”

Stoick visibly relaxes at that evaluation of his son and his inventions.

Viggo pointedly stays in the forge until lunch comes around, partly because he likes Hiccup’s workroom, partly (mostly) because the other teens are a rowdy bunch and he wants to avoid them for as long as possible. While that means he has to answer questions from Stoick and Gobber, he’s willing to put up with it in order to learn more about his soulmate by baiting the two men into telling stories or conversations about Hiccup. Plus the heat of the fire keeps away the chill of winter trying to leak in from outside.

When lunchtime rolls around, the twins are back to kidnap him in a similar manner as before. They head for the woods this time, hiking through the tall trees as Toothless and a zippleback bound through the snow. Tuffnut and Ruffnut mindlessly talk on either side of Viggo and he’s happy to tune them out until Ruffnut harshly pinches his arm.

“Do you think Hiccup felt that?” Viggo gives them an incredulous look and dodges out of their range when it’s clear they aren’t going to stop.

“ _ What  _ are you  _ doing? _ ” He hisses at them, scowl on his face and what would be an intimidating glare if he were in his own body.

“This body switching thing - do you think Hiccup can feel what’s happening to his body right now?”

“I highly doubt it seeing as I have no knowledge of what’s happening to my body right now.” And isn’t that a sobering thought. He’s been so invested in his own experience here on Berk that he’s completely neglected to wonder what Hiccup is doing in Viggo’s home village. A teenage dragon rider waking up in a middle aged man’s body and realizing he’s surrounded by dragon hunters can’t possibly be going well.

And his family. Oh gods, what are they telling Hiccup right now? Is Hiccup even mingling with Viggo’s family and his tribe or did he decide to hide out until midnight when they switch back? If he’s smart enough to build a prosthetic tailfin, he’s likely smart enough to go about a whole day causing little to no suspicion. Viggo could return home and maybe nobody will know that someone else was occupying his body for an entire day. It would be a clear sign that Hiccup wants nothing to do with him, at least.

All the boy would have to do is tell everyone on Berk that his soulmate is a dragon hunter and they would drop the issue entirely, right? Wouldn’t even have to mention the years separating them.

He doesn’t need a soulmate, anyways.

“Guys, leave him alone. It’s not like you won’t get to go through this on your own.” Astrid emerges from behind a boulder up the path, her stern voice getting the twins to relent their poking for the time being.

“We’re just preparing for the future unlike some people that would rather sulk all day.” The last part is muttered under Ruffnut’s breath, but Astrid hears it regardless. Her glare is piercing even as one eye twitches in annoyance. Rather than assault the two blondes snickering at her, Astrid grabs Viggo’s arm and drags him to the boulder. He’s thankful he’s gotten relatively used to the artificial leg otherwise he would be tripping far more while trying to keep up with the girl.

Getting down the steep slope behind the boulder, however, ends up requiring heavy assistance from Astrid, especially with the ice and snow making it more treacherous than usual. Once at the bottom, she lets him walk on his own again and he takes a moment to look around the cove they’ve found themselves in.

The rest of the dragon riders are there along with their respective dragons. Walls of stone circle the clearing, a frozen waterfall spills into an equally frozen pond that takes up nearly half the area, tree roots wind down and around the edges of the cove. If not for the teenagers crowding the space, Viggo thinks it would be a peaceful place to sit and relax, maybe even work on projects away from other people.

“This is one of Hiccup’s favorite spots. I’m sure you’ll spend a lot of time here with him.” Astrid doesn’t look at him when she says it, walking away to where her deadly nadder drinks at a hole in the iced over pond.

Viggo learns that it’s more than just a hangout spot for Hiccup, but a common place for the teens to gather away from the village and escape having to be the resident dragon experts. Honestly that has to be the saddest thing Viggo has learned about Berk: that six teenagers are regarded as experts in everything dragon related. And they hardly have expert knowledge from what he’s seen of them, they just happen to be more willing to peacefully handle the beasts than anyone else on the island.

If only they knew they’re in the presence of an actual dragon expert. Too bad for them that Viggo isn’t going to share.

Lunch is had in the cove and it’s then that Viggo realizes he hasn’t eaten anything, yet. The twins took him before he could have any of his breakfast and he didn’t wander away from the forge until he was kidnapped again. A fire is started and they roast fish over the flames. Not the worst meal the man has had, but he hopes dinner offers something more interesting than bread and fish.

They linger in the cove for a good hour or so, taking their time eating, playing with their dragons. Viggo isn’t as interactive as they are, choosing to sit and watch with Toothless pressed to his back (the dragon refused to let him sit alone, hunkering down next to him). When they’ve had their fill of fun, they take to the woods back to the village and the Dragon Academy.

This Viggo is interested in. He’s told it was originally used to train young vikings in the art of fighting and killing dragons. Hiccup’s age-mates were the last to use it for that purpose and the first to use it for training dragons and spreading useful dragon knowledge. For the rest of the afternoon he watches them go about training drills, each of them eager to show off their skills to Hiccup’s soulmate.

He learns a lot about them just from that. Snotlout is a complete showoff, constantly seeking attention and approval. Astrid is a driven perfectionist, a warrior with the potential to lead armies - she forces Ruffnut and Tuffnut to follow through with drills despite their complaints about none of this being on their schedule. The twins seem to be capable when they want to be and have a… unique way of viewing each challenge put in front of them. Fishlegs is soft, knowledgeable on dragons when it comes to the scholarly side of it.

With some grooming, Viggo could see most of them finding a useful place in his business. Unfortunately, they’re deep into this dragon rider life. One of Astrid’s motivators for getting the others to train is issues they’ve had with tribes like the Outcasts and Berserkers, tribes that wanted to kill dragons or had ulterior motives for wanting to train them (Fishlegs is more than willing to tell him about these wars to avoid being subjected to Astrid’s training). Getting them to work with a tribe of dragon hunters could prove difficult.

That’s assuming they ever get to such a point. Viggo might never see them after today.

Dinner is a welcome change of scenery and break from the teenagers that have kept his company most of the day. They valiantly try to sneak into the Great Hall with Viggo tucked inside their group, but Stoick is having none of it and snatches Viggo straight out of their grasp. Idly, he wonders why everyone in this tribe seems so comfortable with dragging his soulmate around like a ragdoll.

“I think they’ve had you for enough of the day,” Stoick says, placing Viggo back on his feet. Toothless is next to him in an instant to stabilize him and create a barrier between Viggo and the disgruntled teens.

He’ll never admit it, but he’s relieved when talk during dinner is focused on how to deal with the distance between his home and Berk. There are a dozen things he’d rather talk about considering this conversation might be pointless in the end, but it’s better than having to avoid questions about himself or his life. He’s dodged enough of those questions for the day. Plus, it gives him thorough information about Berk’s modes of travel and how dragons can be beneficial in that aspect.

The evening ends with Stoick giving a short speech and a toast to his son’s soulmate, wishing them good fortune moving forward and a long and happy life together. Viggo doesn’t think that will happen.

“I think I’m ready to retire for the night,” Viggo says when asked about what he wants to do next. He can hear the teens at their own table and doesn’t need to contemplate if he wants to go back to them or not. Tuffnut and Ruffnut will certainly be disappointed that the final spot on their schedule, the sleepover, is cancelled. Frankly, Viggo doesn’t care. He’s had an unexpectedly long day and wants it to be over so he can go home and pretend it never happened.

The teens bid him goodbye when Stoick encourages him to go over one last time. Their dramatics announce to the rest of the tribe that Viggo isn’t going to linger all night, so he’s bombarded by more goodbyes and goodnights as he leaves with Stoick and Gobber.

At the door to the Haddock hut, Gobber tags his goodbye with, “I’m sure we’ll see you again soon!” Viggo knows the man is referring to his own sixteenth birthday when the body switch is meant to happen again and for the first time in his life, he doesn’t have the heart to ruin the illusion, to tell the blacksmith that he passed his sixteenth birthday before Hiccup was even born. The next time they see him will have to be in person and that won’t happen until after the ice is gone and after he’s able to spare a ship and the time to make the trip to Berk. That’s only assuming Hiccup ever wants to meet him. No doubt the boy figured out how large the age gap is and will choose to pursue someone else - likely Astrid.

Viggo gives Gobber a small smile. He says he can’t wait to be back and even though he doesn’t think that’s true it doesn’t feel like a lie, either. Perhaps he wouldn’t say no if given the opportunity to return to Berk.

Stoick gives him a similar farewell as Gobber. The chief looks forward to the next time they’ll get to meet, hopes that Viggo will be more comfortable with them and open up more. For a moment, Viggo fears the man is going to hug him. Instead, Stoick manages to hold back and leave Viggo with a pat on the shoulder that sends the man stumbling in his crippled teenage body. The pain dulls quickly when he looks up at Stoick and sees the warmth in the father’s eyes, realizes that warmth is directed at him.

When was the last time someone looked at him like that?

Viggo is left alone with Toothless. The pair heads upstairs to the loft where the nightfury warms his stone slab with a streaming plasma blast and settles down for the night. Toothless keeps his half-lidded gaze on Viggo as he wanders over to Hiccup’s desk, not ready to sleep just yet. Another hour is spent perusing the papers there, flipping through journals that have sketches of members of the tribe and hastily scribbled ideas for new weapons and detailed drawings of Toothless.

He falls asleep at the desk with his face pressed to an early sketch of the nighfury’s prosthetic tailfin. That night he dreams of flying and building and smiling with his soulmate.

Morning comes and Viggo wakes in his own body.

It’s surreal after spending 24 hours in the body of a scrawny teenager with a missing leg. He wiggles the toes on his left foot as he stares at his own ceiling, wrapped in the furs of his own bed. Dread fills his gut when he thinks about having to get up and face his family, find out if anyone even knows he was gone yesterday.

Reluctantly, Viggo gets up from bed and readys for the day. Already he can hear the rest of the Grimborn Hall waking up, his niece and nephew thundering around the main floor, his sister-in-law and sister working on breakfast, Ryker grumbling at the table about the work he has to do today. Just as he’s turning to leave his room, Viggo catches sight of a folded parchment on his bedside table.

It's a letter from his soulmate.

_ Dear Viggo, _

_ I want to meet you. _

_ There’s a deadly nadder down at the stables. She’s trained enough that she’ll let you ride her and I left the designs for a saddle - you can ride her without one, but I highly recommend  _ _ not _ _ doing that. Very uncomfortable. When you go to meet her, bring chicken. Nadders like fish but they  _ _ love _ _ chicken. The more chicken you feed her, the more she'll love you, and the easier she'll be to fly. _

_ I’ve marked out a meeting place on the map in your study. It’s about halfway between us, maybe three or four days of flying from either way. _

_ I’ll be there one week from today and I really hope you’re there, too. _

_ Looking forward to meeting you, _

_ Hiccup Haddock III _

_ P.S. I'm sorry for making you wait so long _

His heart is thumping so loudly in his ears he almost doesn’t hear Ryker open the door to his room. The man makes some smart comment about Viggo’s soulmate and how he’s never heard Viggo talk so much in his entire life. There's bound to be more jibes coming his way when he gets downstairs, but he doesn't care,  _ can't  _ care when all he can think about is the deadly nadder he has to meet today and the trip he has to plan.

In one week, Viggo is going to meet his soulmate.


End file.
